You need to hear this.

Software update for Boeing planes coming

Normal software design issues might be a nuisance, but sometimes the stakes are much higher. After two tragic plane crashes in months, Boeing announced that it plans to release a new software for its 737 Max plane. In the words of Boeing, the software is “designed to make an already safe aircraft even safer.”

According to Motherboard:

“Boeing said its software enhancement will include updates to the 737 Max’s Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which was implemented to help pilots bring the aircraft’s nose down while in the air, according to The Air Current. The MCAS was implicated in the Lion Air crash, as pilots reportedly struggled to control it.”

If anything happens to the system mid-flight, the pilots do have the option to disable it. Boeing has been working on this new software for a few months, but the fix didn't get pushed soon enough to prevent tragedy. For now, the most (if not all) 737 Max planes will be grounded until any issues get worked out.

Many think their phones are listening to them, even if they aren't

As the '80s song goes, many people "always feels like somebody’s watching me, and I have no privacy." Three decades later, many people feel the same way about their phones. I know the feeling. Sometimes if I start talking about something with my phone nearby, I'll see an ad about it the next day. But according to researchers, this doesn't necessarily mean it's our phones that are listening to us. A study found that even if you just use Facebook on your PC, the same ads will find their way to your screens.

According to Yahoo Finance:

“Facebook, for instance, can make a link between you and friends you often interact with. So if your friend was recently traveling to Hawaii, liked a page about Hawaii or even visited a web page related to Hawaii with Facebook's code embedded in it, the social network might connect that back to you and start serving you ads about Hawaii."

So I guess it's comforting that phones don't necessarily listen to you (the researchers checked for that), but disconcerting that Facebook knows so much about you. Regardless, I find no fault in people that "don't stop believin'" their phone is spying on them, even if it's not

But there's more going on in the world than that.

Quantum computer “reverses time”

I'm no Marty McFly, but time travel does pique my interest. It also happens to pique the interest of scientists from Moscow, Switzerland and the United States — it was a very good movie, after all. And now, humankind has unlocked some of the secrets of a type of time travel, at least at the quantum level.

According to The Independent:

"In a development that also represents a major advance in our understanding of quantum computers, by using electrons and the strange world of quantum mechanics, researchers were able to turn back time in an experiment that can be likened to causing a broken rack of pool balls to go back into place. Anyone watching the computer would see the event as if time had turned backwards. The researchers – from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) and helped by colleagues in Switzerland and the US – expect the technique to improve, becoming more reliable and precise with time.”

The experiment mainly deals with thermodynamics and changing the direction of how a reaction occurs. The scientists hope to apply their findings to test other quantum computer programs. So we might not be able to go back in time to get our hands on a sports almanac, but we can wind the clock back on certain things to the way they were before.

And you can't not know this.

Kids cartoon on internet safety

Four-year-olds are using the internet, and as we all know, things can get really weird on the Web. That’s why the National Crime Agency in the U.K. created a cartoon series to teach children how to be safe online.

According to BBC:

"The series of videos called Jessie & Friends is intended to teach children how to keep themselves safe online, with a view to protecting them from sexual abuse and other threats. Children will be directed to Jessie & Friends via ‘video clips and a catchy song’ on social media sites. The NSPCC described the move as ‘a positive step.’ Jessie & Friends features three animated children who explore online videos and social media - but they soon realise that dangers are lurking there.”

If only these educational animated cartoons — which aim to keep children safe — would replace Baby Shark as the song that's stuck everyones' heads around the globe, we'd all be forever grateful, AND kids would be better off.

Okay, time travel on a quantum level sounds super interesting, and if researchers can find a way to revert atoms to their previous state, that can only mean one thing. Eating a pizza, and bringing it back to its original state, and eating it again :D

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Statistically, airplanes are the safest way to travel because there are fewer crashes per mile traveled per person...but what happens to that statistic if you compare the safety of plane crashes to crashes of other modes of transport?

Reversing Time

This moment we inhabit is where time touches eternity. Forever dwells in every moment.

Smartphones aren't listing to us?

Yes. They are. It's just that they don't always pass what they hear along to their masters.

Cartoon on internet safetyThe only safe place on the internet for a 4 year-old is sitting on the lap of a loving, responsible adult.

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Phones do indeed listen. Haven't been near 'social' media in months, but last night the Mrs. required a laxative. This morning, I get served an ad for...laxatives. PROOF! XD

As I have said before on another post, My brother said to his wife "I need a new SD card for my camera" and *ding* notification from the Amazon App (not an ad on a web page mind you) for SD cards... he no longer has the app installed.

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Yep, I also find it hard to believe that the 'phones' aren't listening. What with human nature and how the companies operate that design the software, it makes me wonder who sponsored that 'study'.

As for the so called, "time travel" piece, nothing to do with time travel. Despite the Independent objecting to my use of ad-blockers (there's an irony), it looks like they're playing with a qunatum computing program that introduces 'randomisation'. They then followed up with another program to reverse it, and what a suprise, it did!

Don't Boeing planes have manual overrides available for the pilots?

My kids are well above 4 yours old now but they're still not allowed on the internet without supervision. Four year old kids should be spending time with their parents learning stuff rather than playing on the internet. Or playing outside and not on the internet.

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Isn't it so that you can "prevent" some event from happening when you know or suspect it's going to happen? I don't suppose Boeing could know that in advance.

Peter (Spiceworks) wrote:

So I guess it's comforting that phones don't necessarily listen to you (the researchers checked for that), but disconcerting that Facebook knows so much about you. Regardless, I find no fault in people that "don't stop believin'" their phone is spying on them, even if it's not

Well, majority of people believe in an all-knowing entity, and have no problems trusting it to be benevolent. So why not trusting corpos, who are at least our own kin? They at least "talk back".

Peter (Spiceworks) wrote:

Anyone watching the computer would see the event as if time had turned backwards.

Wow, if is applies to computers so far, I already predict new type of AV software, which can rollback PC to the state before infection :)

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Smartphones definitely in some way listen to us, but it's not just smartphones anymore, watches, tv's, computers, anything with a mic has the potential to be collecting data. a lot of this data is used to customise our online experience, ads marketing, preferences. its what the online world has become, you talk about dog food, 30 seconds later, Facebook is suggesting a brand of dog food in an advert.

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I love that 4 year old children get an animated series about the safety of the internet and there I was having to set up an anonymous internet connection, anonymous account, source of funds by myself to get my drop off of LSD... I kid of course.

ACTUALLY INTERACT WITH YOUR CHILD INSTEAD OF PLONKING THEM ON A LAPTOP.

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I thought 'all' systems on a plane have manual overrides in case of power failures.

Quantum computers basically just have a really good undo button.

Given that the age restrictions for Facebook are 13, I doubt many 4 year olds will have their own accounts.

The NSPCC who are behind the the adverts are barking up the wrong tree. If a young kid is on Facebook, it is because their parents have let them on using their accounts, in which case it's the parents fault, or the child wilfully changed their D.O.B. to get on the site, which is against Facebook rules, and is not able to be policed by Facebook. They are looking for new powers to regulate Facebook, and other social media sites, which is a bit like trying to complain that gravity exists.

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Given that it seems software caused the recent Boeing crash, does this mean the company will be liable for the loss of life? My (admittedly limited) understanding is that the MCAS system forces the plane's nose down, but Boeing failed to explain this to pilots. It also seems that when pilots try to correct the nosediving caused by MCAS, the software would overrule pilot efforts.

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Phones are absolutely listening and reporting on you, your location, your browsing habits, your music tastes, your choice of words, etc... but we don't care about that. Let's freak out about these smart speakers instead, right? Every time somebody mentions a Google Home, Alexa/Echo, or another smart speaker, people go crazy with paranoia and talk about how "I'll never allow one of those spy boxes in my house!" yet.... you carry a phone around.

I've been tracking the ad thing... Something's listening or has amazing predictive analytics for sure. Several times over the last few weeks I've had discussions with someone on something fairly obscure that we never discussed otherwise and did not search. Next day, ads for related items on all our social media. In most of the cases I did not have my phone with me too. So, if their phone was listening, it was identifying connections and/or voices to figure out which of us to target.

Or maybe free will is just a lie and it simply is because it must be...

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Time travel, not so much. It's actually more of a replay system. At least in my mind, I can see this technology extrapolated and used to solve issues faster. Something happens and they reverse the flow of photons from nearby matter to find out what that was. You can't change it (because if you did then you wouldn't be doing this in the first place and you end up with a paradox). But you can view it.

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Given how often the voice recognition features get me wrong. They must be paying people to listen. Or they are keeping back the best voice recognition tech. Both of which I doubt for financial reasons.